“What I love most about playing in front of people has something to do with a certain kind of energy exchange,” says composer/multi-instrumentalist Nils Frahm. “The attention and appreciation of my audience feeds back into my playing. It really seems as if there is a true and equal give and take between performer and listener, making me aware of how much I depend on my audience. And since the audience is different every night, the music being played will differ too. Every space I performed in has its own magic and spirit.”
Spaces is Frahm’s attempt at bottling that spirit and repackaging it as one cohesive set of painstakingly edited songs, more of a “field recording project than a live record.” Or as he recently told Interview, “When you edit your own material, it’s like trying to Photoshop your own face. Oh, there’s some wrinkles under my eyes, I should try to get rid of that. There’s a little note which I don’t like. Should I cut this out or not? An improvised concert is so wonderful because once it’s played, it’s gone. That gives you such a freedom.”
Spaces is due out November 19th through Erased Tapes. Check out the spellbinding synths of “Says” down below…
Nils Frahm, Spaces (Erased Tapes, November 19th):
1. An Aborted Beginning *
2. Says *
3. Said And Done #
4. Went Missing *
5. Familiar %
6. Improvisation For Piano, Laughs, Coughs And A Cell Phone *
7. Hammers *
8. For—Peter—Toilet Brushes—More *
9. Over There, It’s Raining #
10. Unter—Tristana—Ambre *
11. Ross’s Harmonium *
* previously unreleased
# original version on The Bells
% original version on Felt
